Wanna Know About The Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has been around for more than seventy-five years, which makes it older than your parents’ avocado-colored refrigerator and wondering how it’s still going all the same. I’ve been through three Fringes: once as a wide-eyed punter (i.e. I just went to see shows), twice as a performer, and once as a reviewer—though that year I also performed, because the Fringe has a way of bending space-time until your roles start collapsing in on each other.

Plenty of people have already written about the festival, but I want to add my voice—not because I have the One True Take (I don’t), but because I have opinions, and the Fringe runs on opinions the way other cities run on electricity. If I’m seeing and thinking something, chances are other people are too. They just might not say it as bluntly.

So this series will be part diary, part guide, and part gossip column. If you want something neutral and brochure-like, the Fringe Society is abundantly useful. But if you want the messy truth—the politics, the finances, the personalities—stick around.

My posts are aimed at anyone considering the festival or just curious about what goes on behind the scenes. I won’t shy away from the politics, finances, and gossip. If that’s your jam, you might find this series worth your time.

Here are a few of the topics I’ll cover:

• What the Edinburgh Fringe is (and how I got involved)

• Who goes

• Marketing & Promotion

• Reviews & Awards

• Costs

• The big question: is it worth it?

There may be more as inspiration strikes. And I’d love to know: what are you curious about?

For the record, I don’t plan on turning this Substack into an Edinburgh Fringe blog. I have plenty of other things I’d like to dig into- like, say, the ongoing collapse of the current world order. But since I just got back from this year’s festival, and it’s fresh in my mind, I figured why not? So, over the next few weeks, expect some Fringe dispatches, mixed in with other obsessions as they arise.

Thanks, as always, for reading.